


Underneath

by perenous



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 20:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16583606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perenous/pseuds/perenous
Summary: His home was burned down in cold blood by tiefling mages serving under their king; taking the slaughter to heart, a half drow man leaves his home behind and finds himself wandering, picking up any job he can. As much as he tries to always work a job alone, there will always be times when he is forced to work with others. It just happens that, on one job, he finds his partner a tiefling woman who uses magic- the very same thing he had sword to himself that he would kill if he ever saw again. Despite everything, he carries on with the job and finds himself neck deep in absolute bs





	Underneath

**Author's Note:**

> ALRIGHT so this is my own shit! This is some background for some of my npcs, Jens (the half-drow) and Closed (the tiefling), in a campaign I'm working on. Writing it out like this helps me keep track of everything lmao. If you enjoy? Cool. If not? also cool.
> 
> This is also really short cause its just the first part of a bunch of stuff i have lmao

Months had passed since he had forced himself to leave everything behind; months had gone by since the attack. His entire life had, quite literally, been burned down in a matter of a few minutes. Those minutes had made all the difference. Had the attack started in a different moment, maybe the town would still be standing. Maybe he would have been able to fight. But as things often do, it happened at the worst time. He had been unable to help, he had seen the light of the spells being cast at the town too late.  
From his position behind a fallen tree at the edge of the woodlands, the half-drow man watched a line of tieflings march to the south of the town, towards the mountains in the distance. They all sported such garb that led him to conclude they were mages serving under the tiefling king

It wasn’t unexpected; there had been conflict between the drow and the tieflings for years. That being said, though, his town was small and insignificant. It was leagues away the elven capital and had no importance to the queen or her troops. The murder of the thousands who lived there had been nothing but slaughter, with no tactical advantage for the tieflings. The king had sent his troops to destroy the nearly powerless town and its people for what reason? To scare the elven queen? Watching the tieflings march out of sight, tears stung at the man’s eyes and a deep hatred pierced his chest.

He found himself alone in the ruins of his town. He slunk around the streets, the features on his face illuminated in the dark by the blue fire that still burned strong along the street. As he turned a corner, he came across an injured tiefling soldier. They had been left behind by those they fought with. It was obvious that whatever injuries they had sustained wouldn’t allow them to live for much longer. Stringing his bow, his heart beat with the anger of the ones that this soldier had slaughtered. Without a word, he released his bow into the heaving chest of the tiefling. The kill itself did not satisfy his pure anger. Still fuming, he threw his bow to the ground and unsheathed a dagger on his hip, yelling out as he attacked the corpse of the tiefling. When he was satisfied, he sat and watched the fire finally burn out, holding the horned head of his opponent in his hands. He stared at the ruined remains of his once peaceful home and swore to himself that he would never trust two things; magic and tieflings.

____________________

Such a short time had gone by, and here he was, standing next to a tiefling woman who furiously shoot bursts of light out of the palms of her hands; magic. Every shot she took he cringed. It was impossible to concentrate on the fight at hand when the same thing that destroyed his everything was such a short distance from him. 

“Hey! Drow boy!” His pointed ears perked at the frustrated yell. Realising he had been leaving his companion--damn it, she was his companion-- to fight on her own, he strung his longbow and sent three arrows striking into a line of charging goblins.

“Right, sorry,” he grumbled back to her as the goblins crumpled to the ground.The woman let three missile-like blasts shoot from her hands, finishing off another. Her cape swung over her shoulder as she whipped around to face him.

“What the hell?” He ignored the tiefling’s shout and lunged forward, unsheathing the dagger on his left hip to deliver the finishing blow to a rather hardy goblin. As it fell to the ground, a sharp pain in his side sent the man stumbling backwards. Four more smaller goblins had surrounded him; one had used its club and bashed his side rather hard while he had been caught off guard by the larger goblin. He looked to his companion for support, but another group of goblins had surrounded her too. The creatures snickered at their catch, proud of themselves. The largest of the four held his spear up to the neck of the half-elf man. It snorted in laughter and jabbed at his throat.

“Ya killed Pect…” The goblin jerked his repulsive head towards the body of the large goblin the man had just shot. “ ‘s one of our best fighters, he was. Ma good friend, too. I’ll kill ya fer that… Ya know ya can’t easily kill four of us when we be surroundin’ you like we are. In above ya head now, ain’t ya. I’ll kill ya, bring ya disgustin elvish head back fer the boss, I-” The goblin’s threats were cut off as a blast of light hit him square in the chest and sent him flying back against a nearby stone pillar. The other goblins surrounding the half-drow froze in their tracks and stared at where the other now laid unconscious. Three streams of fire shot from behind them into each of their backs, knocking them all to the ground and giving the man enough time to swiftly string his bow and kill each of them.

The half-elf sighed and slung his bow on his back. He turned back to where the shots had come from and faced the tiefling woman, goblin bodies scattered at her feet. She scowled at him with her arms crossed over her chest; she seemed furious. While she was still trying to put up a strong front, it was obvious to him that she was beyond exhausted. She was swaying in place and looked like she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. 

“Hey, what the absolute hell?! You were barely any help, I can’t defeat thirty-something goblins by myself-which is what i ended up doing, by the way...” She blinked roughly and rubbed her forehead.

“I’m.. I apologize,” he strode over to her and offered her his hand.

“You look exhausted-” She quickly jerked her hand away and snapped back at him.

“I’m fine, let’s just… you grab the load and let’s get out of here before more of them come.” He nodded. It was probably best not to oppose her, especially after he had made such an astounding first impression.

After his home was destroyed, the young half-elf man had found himself lost, with nowhere to go home to and no desire to settle down elsewhere. As a result, he ended up wandering anywhere and everywhere. In whatever town he passed through, he would go to the most bustling inn or tavern and find the most rewarding job he could. Typically, the jobs were uneventful; escort a trade lord, guard something, kill someone. All easy tasks. The job he had secured a few days earlier had seemed no different; recover a stolen item that had been taken by a gang of goblins camping nearby the town. He had had no issues with similar jobs in the past. The only setback had been the partner he had been assigned for the job. When a tiefling woman had walked up to him and announced that the two would be working together on the job, his heart had sunk. Such a short amount of time after he had promised himself that if he would come across another tiefling he would kill them, he had to force himself to work with one. He soon discovered, as the two had made their way to the base, discussing strategy, that she could also use magic. Any focus he had on the job was profusely lost. 

I’m working with a tiefling… a tiefling who can use magic… he scolded himself for not simply turning around and refusing to work this job. In the back of his mind, the logical part, he told himself to push through the job, despite his wishes. He needed the reward after all, and jobs were scarce in this area. But every moment he spent with the tiefling, he had to refrain himself from lashing out.

He looked around the stone room for a few moments before the silver chest that stored their payload came into sight. Hastily, he scooped the chest into his arms and returned to the woman. She was sitting on the ground now, her head in her hands. One quick look and it was obvious she was nearly unconscious. Magic was exhausting, he knew, and she had fought off most of the enemy herself. Without a word, he slung her arm around his shoulder, to which she groaned an annoyed protest. She was too exhausted to put up any kind of actual fight, though, and reluctantly took the help. The half-drow held the chest they were sent to collect in one arm, his other arm preoccupied with holding

“This is fine,” he muttered sarcastically while he limped away from the base scattered with goblin corpses.


End file.
